Here’s what you Need to Know About the Just Concluded COP27

Let me start by stating that all UNFCCC climate change gathering or meeting will focus on 3 key areas:?

1) Climate Mitigation (reducing causes of climate change)

2) Climate Adaptation (adjusting to the reality of climate change through resilient infrastructure)?

3) Climate Finance (funding what needs to be done)

COP 27 stands for the Conference of Parties held this year for the 27th Year in the holiday resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh Egypt. It’s an annual event which brings together world leaders and governments who are member countries of the United Nations and who have committed to climate change reduction through the signage of the Kyoto protocol, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change?(UNFCCC UN ) or the Paris Agreement

There usually is high hopes for COP events as world leaders will decide actions to take to save our planet from the devastating impacts of climate change. COP27 Clearly did not achieve much as expected to build up on COP26 except for the one big win on Loss and Damage (more below). As I mentioned in the beginning of the COP, the Conference of Parties is an important yearly gathering of the UNFCCC, a platform for countries to debate how to solve the climate challenge. Read my COP27 intro HERE

Notes on the Above Key Areas:

Important matters that were up for discussion for this Years COP27 were:

1) Climate Adaptation: which?refers ?to adjustments to an ecological, social or economic system in response to actual or expected impacts of climate change. In simple language, climate adaption means countries, businesses and communities investing in measures to respond to the impacts of climate change now, as well as prepare for future impacts.?

There has been lots of attention on Climate mitigation- which is focused on reducing climate change aiding gasses Eg - carbon capture, co2 reduction, net zero plans etc. But all of that is in the hopes to stop climate change before its impact becomes deadly. Even though that is great, but it is not very smart to focus on the one part when the world is already facing climate change impacts.

2) Climate Mitigation: which refers to efforts to reduce carbon emissions which are the the major cause of climate change. This is an important aspect of all COP event as it borders around saving the planet by keeping the emissions in check in line with the Paris agreement (keep the rise in mean global temperature to well below 2?°C (3.6?°F) above pre-industrial levels, and preferably limit the increase to 1.5?°C). Focus is on strategic plans to limit Global Warming to 1.5 degrees.

3) Climate Finance: which refers to strategies for funding country's (especially developing nations) climate resilience, funding the transition to more sustainable climate technology; this includes - transition to cleaner energy, transition to sustainable transport..etc. Climate finance is at the intersection of both climate adaptation and mitigation. It’s the money part. It’s is “the how” or “the means” by which the goals set by countries will be achieved. Especially, of important focus is strategies to provide finance for developing countries who are battling with climate change impacts which they haven’t caused. What sort of finance to promote??

What was Achieved by COP27?

On Adaptation and Mitigation

1) The COP27 achieved only one main success - The Establishment of A Loss and Damage Fund Facility - and that in itself in my opinion is not really a success. At least as of Yet. As a friend of mine puts it - “no matter the promise, until the money hits the account and you can see it, It’s not success, so do not rejoice yet”.

But establishing a Loss and Damage fund which builds into Adaptation Is major win because Adaptation was a key discussion point for the COP and recognising and paying for the suffering of climate impacts by vulnerable countries has always been a big push for decades during other COPs.

What is the ''Loss and Damage Fund''

The Loss and Damage fund is a fund is a special funding facility, like a money bank that will be set up to pay poor nations for the loss and damage they are suffering due to climate change. The premise is that the countries suffering more from climate change impacts have not contributed to the casue of it. They are mostly low emitting developing countries and nations on the islands most heavily affected by sea level rise. And since they are facing climate change impacts caused by the big, developed countries who are the largest carbon emitters (who used carbon for industrialisation and therefore achieved their 'developed' status) should pay for it. The details of how the fund will work will be left to future discussions.

On Energy:

2) There was insufficient progress on the energy transition both in and around COP27. Few countries followed through on their promises to increase the ambition of their nationally determined contributions (NDCs), although Australia and the European Union (EU) were rare exceptions among the developed countries.

On Fossil Fuels:

3) On Phase down of fossils the language was weak when it came to the phase down of “oil and gas”. But called very strongly for the phasedown of unabated coal’ use for the first time only last year, failed to expand to include oil and gas.?

To avoid a climate catastrophe, the rise in mean global temperature must be kept to well below 2?°C (3.6?°F) above pre-industrial levels, and preferably limit the increase to 1.5?°C).

COP27 failed to raise ambitions on reducing emissions. That could mean the world misses the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming target enshrined in the 2015 Paris Agreement. Calls to phase out all fossil fuels (not just coal) and to peak global emissions by 2025 were shot down by many nations who export oil whose presence were well felt at the conference presence was very well felt during the event bolstered by the ongoing EU/Russia energy crises.

But extracting and burning oil and gas accounts for 40 per cent of all annual greenhouse gas emissions. The high presence of oil and gas industries and country producers led to a higher number of meetings focused on decarbonization of the oil and gas??sector.?

Major oil producing countries Saudi Arabia were keen to emphasize technologies to ‘clean up’ rather than phase down their fuels as the future. “Saudi Arabia’s Chief of Climate said “We can pump oil and also reduce carbon emissions”.

This fight is likely to get harder as COP28 heads to the United Arab Emirates, an oil and gas giant.

On Finance:

4) Asides from the loss and damage funds established, many countries, groups, development finance organisations and multilateral organizations pledged significant amounts of money to fund several aspects of Adaptation or Mitigation. I will edit this to attach a link to all the monies promised.

Besides this, it is important to mention that rich countries, the biggest emitters are current;y not keeping to the USD 100BN pledge made in 2009 at the 15th Conference of Parties (COP 19) that held in Copenhagan. During tat time, a climate finance of USD 100 Billion a year was agreed. The finance is to fund climate change mitigation, which are measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation to climate change. The funding was purpoted to come from public and private sources and to be disbursed in deifferent forms.

This finance target has been missed every year since 2013.

In that light, what is the prerogative that a Loss and Damage fund will be funded and funding maintained annually sustainably to service NDCs of developing countries and ultimately achieve Paris agreement's 1.5 degrees celcius limit by 2025?

On Agriculture

5) As observed by Tim Benton from Chatham House, There was still significant political resistance to fully adopting a sustainable food systems approach. Globally, food systems emit about one-third of all greenhouse gasses, while poor diets – in rich and poor countries alike – are arguably the single biggest factor in ill-health and early death.

COP27 maintained a firm focus on supply-side solutions to tackle food insecurity, avoiding the politically more contentious demand-side issues of ensuring nutritious and sustainable diets for all.

Outcomes for Africa

1) Africa has done little to contribute to climate change. According to Christopher Vandome - “Africa’s contribution to the global energy transition cannot be at the expense of its own industrialization.” Some African countries have huge gas reserves. But the case of promise and failure of funds by big emitters is causing many African leaders to rethink their engagement with multilateral climate initiatives.

2) For most of the African countries, their strategies involve exploiting their gas reserves to meet their development needs but with global pressure against fossils Africa needs to demonstrate to international agencies and partners that this utilization is part of a longer term net zero and poverty alleviation goals.

It’s time to focus on Adapting to climate change impacts. Especially recently, there is a growing need to focus on financing climate adaptation efforts. We must deal with the reality that climate change is here to stay and even with all the best will in the world we're going to have to deal with this.?

My Recommendations for Climate finance

To fund climate change adaptation / mitigation plans, it has become increasingly important to leverage PPPs and blended financing which can enhance private sector contributions. To support this governments can provide clarity by setting their?National Adaptation Plans ?(NAPs) which enable countries to identify medium and long-term adaptation needs and to develop and implement programmes to address these needs.

The Inter-American Development Bank has released a?toolkit ?for decision-makers aiming to develop public-private partnerships for climate resilience.

Especially important are discussions on Innovative Climate Finance Models: Developing countries also want more public finance and grants instead of loans, as many of the worst-impacted countries face debt crises.

According to a World Economic Forum Publication, A lot of countries are unable to adapt because of increased debt burden. Between 2010 and 2020, the public debt of developing countries increased from 40% of their GDP to an average of 62%. More than a third of that happened in 2020 alone. We have to think of the climate crisis in the frame of the debt crisis as well.?Most climate finance ?– 61% ($384 billion) – was raised as debt, of which only 12% ($47 billion) was low-cost or concessional.

There is a disastrous nexus between debt and climate vulnerability. The cost of climate-induced damages and lost revenue streams from extreme weather events contributes to higher debt. Tropical countries, particularly small island developing states, are at the frontline of this disastrous nexus. Financing climate adaptation and resilience in the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries through increased borrowing is, therefore, unlikely to be a sustainable option. We need innovative models to finance adaptation in vulnerable countries.?

Ready for Climate Investment or Nah?

While on the topic of climate finance it’s important to note that Some developing countries are not investment ready. Beyond being investment ready, corruption is a key hindrance here. A high level top official of a leading Finance organization told me in confidence and I quote: “there was a grant available in USD millions for one of the developing countries - I worked hard to make sure this country was among the three to get this free money grant - but they weren’t ready - their books were not ready - it’s seems that because the person in charge was leaving office, he is delaying processes to receive the find because he will not benefit from it personally. I initiated this process with them since July. Now this fund is about to go to another country''. He concluded sadly.

The Climate Finance Leadership Initiative published a guideline CFLI Investment Readiness Guidelines intended to facilitate discussion among financial institutions, project developers, investors, and government representatives on critical factors for mobilizing private finance for low-carbon solutions in emerging and frontier markets. Access it HERE

References:

chathamhouse.org

parliament.uk

unfccc.int

bloomberg.com

Weforum.org

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Read Glory's writings on Energy and Climate HERE and HERE

Glory is the founder of Climate Smart Nigeria which promotes Climate Change Education in Nigerian institutions and provide capacity building on renewable energy technologies. Recently she established the Renewable Energy Technology Training Institute (RETTI) which trains and prepares the next generation of efficient installers and entrepreneurs to serve as a competent workforce for the renewable energy industry and provide solutions to Nigeria’s prevalent energy problems as entrepreneurs.

Under Glory’s leadership, RETTI recently lauched THE?RETTI Virtual University ?(RVU), Africa’s first online courses platform for affordable and easy access solar education with eight pilot courses? to assist people wanting to get into the energy sector especially renewables.

Glory recently received the?Florence School of Regulation’s ?– Lights on?Women ?Award ?as one of four women out of 150 women from 64 countries. This award will granted her a featured interview with the FSR and a scholarship to study the course –?#Electric ?#Vehicles ?(EV), a Power Sector Perspective?and expand her knowledge about how EVs,?#Charging ?#Infrastructure ?and the?#V2X ?(Vehicle to Everything) concept will change the face of electricity and transportation.

Glory has published five books to promote the knowledge of climate change and renewable energy; Something is happening; Our world is changing; Understanding the Basics of Climate Change– for Secondary Schools – The Concept and Science of Climate Change – for the general adult public, A short thriller story – The Year Ran Mad – which depicts the impact of climate change on livelihood for Primary schools and The Girl who saw tomorrow, a short novel for secondary school –bit.ly/rettiM

Glory can consult for African government entities about regulation for Electric Vehicles.

MORE ABOUT GLORY

She is the recipient of several local and international awards and recognitions which include (a) Nigerian Star from the US Mission in Nigeria (2018), (b) The Nigerian Energy Champion Prize from the Nigerian Energy Awards (2015), (c) President Obama’s Mandela Washington Fellowship Award (2015), (d) The Young Energy Professional of the Year Award by Nigeria Energy Awards (2018), (e) A Foremost Woman in Renewable Energy award recipient (2017); (f) Environmental Award of Excellence, Environmental Community Development group (2014).

-In April 2019, Glory was selected as one of 15 African female business leaders to attend United States Government’s launch of?the OPIC 2X Africa and meet with advisor to President of USA – Ms. Ivanka Trump and the Ethiopian President – Ms Sahle-Work Zewde.

-In the course of her work she has met and shared platforms with a number high profile personalities and leaders at the national and international levels, including President Barack Obama, US Senator Chris Coons, Advisor to President Trump, Ms Ivanka Trump, Gov. Jack Markell of Delaware USA, Ethiopian President – Ms Sahle-Work Zewde, The USG Undersecretary for Energy – Mr Mark Menezes and former Vice President Ebitu Ukiwe of Nigeria.

-She is a consultant for Nigeria’s largest renewable energy event, the Nigerian Alternative Energy Expo. She was a former Vice President of the Mandela Washington Fellowship Association of Nigeria (MWFAAN), and is currently an active member. She’s an alumna of Abia State University, Nigeria, The Lagos Business School, University of Delaware, USA, European Energy Institute and The Florence School of Regulation, Italy.